Eyes of a Stranger
by sparkliez
Summary: About two girls, strangely connected...what does destiny have in store for them? Agh, the font is unbearably large on Chapter 1, but it refuses to be fixed, so just...pretend it's tiny, and the rest of the chapters aren't like that, okies?
1. Strangers Alike

Eyes of a Stranger

Hello to all who have had the misfortune to stumble onto my story. ;) This is just the first chapter...I'm not quite sure exactly where this is going...I might just delete it if I get too frustrated. Not that you'll care. I'm scared of reviews, but if you happen to venture down to the little box, why don't you just write something anyway? It'll make me happy :)

*sparkliez*

**Disclaimer:** All of the lovely characters that are J.K. Rowling's (you know who they are) belong to, well...her. The girlies belong to moi.

Chapter One:

Strangers Alike

Having just emerged from the barrier which separated Platform 9 and 3/4 from the Muggle World, Gabbi stared around in amusement. She had told her (rather evil) parents that she'd like to come to the platform the way the other new students did, so as not to attract any attention. Not that her appearance in itself didn't attract any attention

Gabbi (that's Gabrielle, to you) was rather pretty, if she did say so herself. Pale as moonlight, with sharp, yet beautiful features, she was very small. Her dark silky hair was cropped short, but it didn't give her a boyish appearance, as it might on others. On the contrary, it made her look chic and sophisticated. Not that she was _aiming_ to look chic and sophisticated...it just kind of happened that way. There was a beauty mark on her upper lip; her mother, and seemingly every woman in the family had it.

Her eyes were a deep, dark, almost plum color, and they didn't come to be this way by some cheap Muggle contacts. No, she was born with them like that, and they seemed to change, depending on her mood. If eyes were the window to the soul, this rule certainly did not apply to Gabbi. No matter how long you looked into those mysterious eyes of hers, you wouldn't have gained any more knowledge about Gabbi, or her "soul." Assuming she _had_ a soul, that is.

Gabbi looked around the crowded station for a nice boy who she could easily charm into helping her put her trunk on the train. Finding one rather quickly, she dragged her heavy trunk over to him as fast as she could. The boy, who was tall, with flaming red hair and freckles, was conversing with a few of his friends. Being quite short for a girl of eleven, Gabbi got on her tiptoes and tapped the boy on his shoulder. He turned away from his friends to look down at Gabbi, who wore a mock expression of fear.

"Um...could you help me with - with my trunk?" Gabbi asked in a small, mousy voice, much unlike her own.

"Oh...um, sure," said the boy. He called to his friends, "Be right back, you guys!"

Upon reaching the train, the boy said, "I'm Ron, is this your first year?"

"Yes," said Gabbi, "I'm Gabbi." They shook and then, with some difficulty, heaved her trunk into a compartment near the back of the Hogwarts Express.

"Thanks!" said Gabbi, hopping inside, grinning, and displaying a row of perfect, white teeth.

Ron turned the color of a radish and mumbled, "Oh, sure...no problem. See you later!" and trotted off to rejoin his friends.

Gabbi giggled evilly and settled down in her seat by the window to spy on Ron and his friends. Ah, how easy it was to get what you wanted! Suddenly she let out a murmur of surprise.

"Ooh...Harry Potter," she whispered. "How...interesting." She smiled to herself, purple eyes twinkling maliciously.

Suddenly, the train emitted a whistle and the few kids that remained on the platform scrambled onto the train in a hurry, for fear of being left behind. As the train sped away, young witches and wizards in training leaned out of the windows, yelling to their parents. Despite herself, Gabbi's stomach leapt with excitement.

Just then, the compartment door burst open, and three girls leapt in, trunks in tow. The first girl, who had two high, dark-brown pigtails sitting atop her head (which, Gabbi thought, made her look remarkably like a dog) squealed, "Why'd you _do_ that?"

"What, _me_?" another girl, with dark blue eyes and curly red hair giggled. "I didn't do _anything_."

The third girl, who was apparently at a loss for words, collapsed in a seat and ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair, gasping for breath. All three girls settled down in their seats, breathing deeply and trying hard to contain themselves.

Looking around, the first girl (the doggish one) spotted Gabbi sitting in a corner and said, "Oh, h ello!" She strode forward and held out her stocky hand boldly. "I'm Marissa."

Gabbi looked at her hand, considering this action. These weren't the sort of people she usually concerned herself with...but hey, what the hell. She shook Marissa's hand saying, "I'm Gabbi." The many silver rings that adorned her fingers glimmered in the bright light.

"Ooh, your hands are _freezing_!" Marissa exclaimed, flitting around the small compartment. "It's summer!"

Gabbi shrugged and looked over at the other girls, who were still making an attempt to calm themselves. One was rubbing her eyes, which appeared to have tears in them, and the other was holding a hand to her chest and breathing slowly.

"This is Karly," Marissa said, pointing at the girl with the curly red hair, "and Taylor," she said, pointing to the other girl.

"H-hey," said Karly, still out of breath. "Is this your first year - too?"

"Yep," said Gabbi simply.

Taylor gave Gabbi a once-over and said quietly, "Hey." Gabbi narrowed her eyes and looked out the window.

"All right then!" Marissa clapped her hands togther jovially. "Who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?"

"Ooh, me!" exclaimed Karly, jumping up. Taylor merely nodded, glancing at Gabbi darkly.

"You wanna play, Gabbi?" Karly asked, rummaging through her trunk for some cards.

"Nah," said Gabbi, gazing out the window again. She wasn't one for games.

--

Genieveve listened in silence as the people around her conversed happily. She preferred not to talk; her mouth had a way of either embarrassing her or getting her into trouble. She didn't want either thing to happen on her first day in a new school.

"_I_ got to go to the Quidditch World Cup this summer!" exclaimed one particularly haughty, sandy-haired girl. "And it was all the way in Romania!"

As someone pulled out a game of wizard's chess Genieveve was left to wonder what on earth Quidditch was.

Being Muggle-born, Genieveve didn't have the slightest clue about the perks of the wizarding world. It was an extreme shock, you'll understand, when an owl was heard tapping on her bedroom window on that lovely morning about three months ago.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Genieveve had murmured incoherently in her sleep, wishing her pesky little cousin would go away. Why did he always have to wake her in the wee hours of the morning?

_Tap. Tap.Tap._

Throwing off the covers, Genieveve had been surprised to see a tawny owl suspended in midair, holding thick-looking letter outside her bedroom window. She immediately rushed to the window, and opened it quickly, upon which the owl fluttered in, dropped the leter, and taken off again in quite a rush.

Opening the thick yellowish parchment, Genieveve had discovered that she had been accepted, though it could hardly be _true_, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The letter said she'd start on September 1st.

Genieveve sighed happily, reflecting upon this happy memory. She had been surrounded by darkness, it seemed, for the longest time before that, sinking deeper and deeper into the myseries of depression. But then the letter had arrived, and the thought of this school, and that she had these wondrous powers, shone like a beacon of hope on the horizon. She had clung on to life, just barely, just long enough to be able to come to the station. And now she was on her way to this school, this Hogwarts.

Turning her head a bit, she gazed out the window once more and one of her earrings caught the light, flashing in the window's reflection. Genieveve noticed this and almost let out a sob. Most would think this sort of thing would make a young girl happy, but Genieveve let out a shaky breath and untucked her dark hair from her ears to hide her pale face, just in case she started sobbing right there.

Genieveve smacked herself mentally. What are you _thinking_? She screamed. Mom would _want_ you to be happy - she bought you those earrings because she knew you loved them. She wouldn't want you crying over the _sight_ of them! Forget Mom. Forget everything. Get _on_ with your life! She kneaded her forehead with her knuckles, trying to relax.

"Um...Genni? Gen - Genieveve?"

Genieveve looked around to see that everyone was staring at her. Apparently she'd roused a lot more attention than she'd intended.

Turning a bright shade of pink, she muttered, "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" a girl with kind eyes questioned.

"Yeah...I'm fine." No you're not, Gen. You need some kind of help. Look, you're talking to yourself!

"Shut _up_," she moaned.

"What?!" the sandy-haired girl who'd been bragging earlier bristled. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"

"No...no," Genieveve muttered. "Sorry."

You are _such_ an idiot, Gen! She yelled at herself. What a great way to make new friends. Just great.

So, was that bad? Good? Should I delete it? You tell me... 


	2. Sortings

Eyes - Ch. 2

Hihi :) This is the second chapter...more of a plot to it, I'm hoping. Still not sure if I'm really gonna stick with this...just tell me if I should stop...Review if you find you just cannot resist...

*sparkliez*

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing more than a can of Pepsi and some goofy thoughts...

Chapter Two:

Sortings

After arriving at Hogwarts and crossing the wide lake with that huge oaf who called himself Hagrid, all the while having to listen to the three girls' intolerable giggles, Gabbi didn't want anything more than just to get away from them. She was willing to bet she'd scream at the mention of anything concerning Exploding Snap.

A strict-looking witch had greeted them somewhat warmly at the huge castle that was Hogwarts. As this witch led them through the Entrance Hall and into a deserted classroom, Gabbi allowed her mind to wander.

She knew that they were being taken to be Sorted, and she also knew that she'd be Sorted into Slytherin; it was without doubt. She was hoping that the Slytherins would still live up to the house tradition of producing more Dark witches and wizards than any other house. Gabbi was particularly looking forward to joining Voldemort and his gang once she was old enough. Maybe sooner. Her father, of course, was a very highly respected Death Eater specializing in the Cruciatus Curse. She hoped to follow in his footsteps.

She was jerked sharply back to earth as she heard a girl talking quietly behind her. She spun around and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. This girl was _obviously _a Mudblood. Filth. Rot. There was nothing she despised more than Mudbloods, Halfbloods - anyone relating at all to Muggles was not worth her time and effort. She herself was a Pureblood, you could trace it back as far as you could trace back her family history.

"...I hope it's not anything too scary...I heard it was a test...do you know how they Sort us?" the dark-eyed girl asked a boy standing next to her nervously.

But before he could answer her, "Give it a rest, Mudblood!" Gabbi spat out in disgust. For a second the two girl's eyes met and you could see something transpire there - then Gabbi whirled around and made a noise of frustration.

Gasps and outbursts of anger followed this, but Gabbi ignored it. God! How could anyone let people like _that_ into this school? Into _any_ school?! Gabbi shook her head and set about fixing her robes. She had to look good for the Sorting, after all. I mean, she'd be in front of the whole _school_!

--

Genieveve had thoroughly enjoyed the ride across the lake to get to Hogwarts castle, but was now starting to grow extremely nervous. She heard people discussing this "Sorting" that was going to take place and wondered what it was. Were they going to have to do magic? Already? And in front of the whole school?!

She had listened nervously to the witch - she had said her name was Professor McGonagall - talk about the Sorting.

"You will be sorted into houses depending on your personalities. You will eat, sleep, and attend classes with your house. They will become somewhat like your family while you are here."

Well, that's good. Genieveve thought. At least it'll be easier to make friends now...this wouldn't be too bad. _If_ she got through this mysterious "Sorting," however.

She glanced around apprehensively. A tall boy with light hair was standing next to her, and he seemed to come from a wizarding family. Maybe he knew what this Sorting thing was all about...

Taking a brave stab at conversation she turned to him and whispered, "Do you - do you know what exactly happens at the Sorting?"

"Well, no one really knows until they do it, do they?" he smiled confidently.

"I...I hope it's not anything too scary...I heard it was a test...do you know how they Sort us?" she asked quietly, playing with the hem of her robes.

Suddenly a girl in front of Genieveve spun around, her eyes flashing. "Give it a rest, Mudblood!" the girl spat. For a moment their eyes connected, and Gen felt like she'd known this girl from somewhere...but then the girl turned around abruptly and left Gen with her mouth wide open and in shock.

The crowd was filled with gasps, and the boy Genieveve had been talking to shouted, "Hey, watch your mouth!" Gen was filled with the impression that she'd said something really rude, but since she had no experience living in the wizard world, didn't have the slightest idea why. Mudblood, apparently, was a terrible thing to call someone, but why had the girl called her that? What had Gen done to her?

Before she could ask these questions, Professor McGonagall arrived and promptly announced that they would now be sorted. Gen smoothed her robes as best she could and ran her fingers through her hair, tucking it neatly behind her ears. Professor McGonagall made them form a single-file line and follow her to where they would be Sorted. Back through the Entrance Hall, and through a pair of large double doors they went, arriving in the Great Hall.

Gen looked around in awe. She had never seen such a wonderful place! But she couldn't concern herself with the lovely decorations just now - she was afraid she might be sick. All the students sat facing them, the light from floating candles playing across their faces as they whispered to one another. She noticed that now, nearly everyone was staring up toward the front of the hall, so she might as well too. What she saw was just a plain, rather tattered and dirty looking wizard's hat, sitting atop a plain stool. What was all the fuss about? Just then, a rip near the brim split wide and the hat began to sing [A/N: Poetry is not my thing - use the original song if you like]. When it was done explaining about the different houses, everyone in the hall applauded kindly, then went silent.

Profesor McGonagall stood up again and announced that she would be calling them up to be sorted in alphabetical order by last name. They were to come up to the front of the hall when their name was called, place the hat on their head, and wait to be sorted. Then sit at their new house table and wait for the feast to begin.

Genieveve emitted a low sigh of relief and studied the hat carefully. So _that's_ all they had to do?

"ARGYLE, KYLE!" Professor McGonagall called.

A short, chubby boy trudged up to the stool, placed the hat on his head and sat for a moment, twiddling his thumbs.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat screamed.

There was a smattering of polite applause as Kyle sprinted to find a seat at the Ravenclaw table. It seemed as though he wasn't one for the spotlight.

"BARTINS, MOLLY!" also became a Ravenclaw, then "CLIFFORD, MACENZIE!" became a Hufflepuff.

Gen studied her sneakers, anxiously awaiting her turn.

--

"Stupid gits," Gabbi muttered under her breath as "DELFORD, ELLIOTT!" became a Gryffindor. She knew her name was quickly approaching and smiled inwardly, feeling it wouldn't be long before she was declared a Slytherin

"ERVIN, GABRIELLE!" Professor McGonagall called out.

Gabbi grinned and walked slowly up to the stool. She wanted to remember this moment forever, the moment that would make her parents proud, knowing she followed in their footsteps of becoming a Slytherin just like them and their many relatives before them. Sitting down gingerly on the stool, Gabbi crossed her legs and placed the hat on her head. It fell past her eyes, which was all right with her; she enjoyed darkness.

"Ooh..." a voice in her ear trilled. "Very, _very_ power-hungry, aren't we? Demanding...talented, too. Well, there's no doubt here - SLYTHERIN!"

Immensely satisfied with herself, Gabbi gracefully took off the hat and placed it back on the stool before walking over to her new house table and sitting down. The boy across from her, rather pale yet handsome, held out his hand.

"I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.

"Gabbi Ervin," she said, smiling as well. She liked the look of this Draco.

"It's nice to see the whole school hasn't yet gone to the Mudbloods," he said, glaring up at the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

"Mmmm...I quite agree, though there are plenty more than I'd like," she nodded.

"Hopefully the Dark Lord will do something about that, eh?" He let out a cold laugh.

"Let's hope!" she laughed as well. Hogwarts wasn't so bad.

--

Genieveve realized, as she watched Gabrielled Ervin walk triumphantly to the Slytherin table, that this was the girl that had called her a Mudblood. Studying the Slytherin table, she thought that they looked like a rude bunch, the type who'd go around calling people mean names. They, of course, did much more than just call people names.

She realized, with a start, as she'd been gazing at the Slytherins that half of the line had been sorted, and only herself and a few others were left standing in line. Genieveve's nervousness level increased majorly, sensing she was about to be called.

"VALDEN, GENIEVEVE!" rang the voice of Professor McGonagall.

Her legs seemed to turn into lead at that very moment, and it was very difficult to walk. When she finally did reach the stool and the hat (after what seemed like hours) she almost tripped over the hem of her robes as she sat down.

Jamming the hat on her head a bit harder than she'd intended to, she was plunged into darkness as the brim fell over her eyes. A shrill voice in her ear made her jump.

"Ah...you are very talented, yes...powerful, too, though you may not realize it...lots of bravery...well this is a hard decision...but you most certainly belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

Sighing loudly, Genieveve shakily removed the hat from her head and skittered over to the Gryffindor table, which was applauding loudly. She sat down next to a girl with long, blonde hair; a boy with jet black hair and piercing green eyes sat directly across from her.

The girl with blonde hair turned to her and said, "Hey, I'm Taylor Johnsten." Taylor held out her slender-fingered hand and Genieveve shook it gladly. "I'm Genieveve Valden. You can call me Genni - Gen - whatever."

Taylor smiled and nodded. The boy across from her held out his hand and said, "I'm Harry Potter. These are my friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley." There were many hand-shakings until finally everyone had been introduced.

"I'm _starved_!" Ron Weasley, a boy with flaming red hair had exclaimed. "Come on..."

"Ron, you're always hungry," Hermione shook her head, grinning.

Suddenly, food appeared on the glittering gold plates out of nowhere. Genni gasped, and Harry laughed. "You from a Muggle family too? Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Genieveve looked down at her plate, blushing. Going to a new school was not going to be that bad - espescially with a pair of dazzling green eyes to help her along the way. 


	3. Dreams

Dreams.html

Hey...well I dun even know why I'm posting this, since no one decided to read the first two chapters *tear* But...whatever I'm bored to no end. Maybe I'll discover a plot?

*sparkliez*

Chapter Three:

Dreams

Genieveve woke early the next morning before the sun had even come up. Too restless to fall back asleep, she crept slowly down into the common room and sat in a squishy armchair. She was extremely rattled about the dream she'd just had. What did it mean? Genieveve covered her face with her hands and tried desperately to think.

In the dream, she'd been seeing things through the perspective of a different girl, but this girl felt familiar, in some way. She really couldn't explain it.

Anyway, she'd been in a very large house, a mansion, in fact. She'd looked through many different, old, dusty volumes of books - they seemed to contain dark magic. Then, suddenly, she was sitting on a man's lap, his sleeve was pulled up, the pale flesh of his left forearm explosed. Her finger slowly traced around the mark that seemed to be burned onto his skin. Some kind of...brand, like farmers did to cows. It was a skull, with a serpent slithering through its mouth. In the dream, she felt herself smile widely, pleased. But now, thinking back, the very thought of this icon repulsed Gen. She couldn't even begin to comprehend it.

Suddenly, she felt the sparse hairs on her neck stand up. She had the strange feeling someone was watching her. Whirling around, her eyes darted around the dark common room, and anyone watching would've been shocked to see that they turned a bright shade of violet. But no one _was_ watching. Turning back around, she grabbed a book someone had left sitting on a table. It was titled, _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts._

Mildly interested, Genieveve skimmed through it, catching the words "Voldemort", "Death Eaters", and "Harry Potter." Wait a second...Harry _Potter_? She flipped back to the page where she'd seen his name, him, that boy who'd been so kind to her the night before, the one with the piercing, shockingly bright green eyes...

"..._The Dark Lord showed up in Godric's Hollow on Halloween night when Harry Potter was just a year old. He first killed James Potter, then Harry's mother, Lily. When he tried to kill little Harry, however, the curse rebounded upon himself and Harry was left with nothing but a scar shaped like a lightning bolt upon his forehead. We have him to thank for the fall of the Dark Lord..._"

Genieveve was shocked, to say the least. Harry Potter, this teenage boy, so youthful and vibrant, had caused the fall of a great dark wizard when he was just one year old? Wow.

_Great, I'm probably the only one who doesn't know about this.You are so dumb, Gen!_

She realized that as she'd been reading, the sky had lightened considerably, and she was still in her pajamas. Not wanting to be late on her first day of school, Gen shut the book gingerly and sprinted back upstairs to her dormitory. Taylor needed a good loud waking anyhow.

--

Sitting at the breakfast table and staring up at the ceiling (which was sky blue and cloudless) Gabbi couldn't help but let her thoughts wander. Her new "friends", Kassandra and Paula, were discussing their first class. Potions to prevent boils were _fascinating_ and all - but she had other things on her mind. The odd dream she'd had last night, in particular.

It was as though she was seeing everything through the eyes of another girl, but the weird thing was that she felt she _knew_ this girl. Kinda like deja vu, maybe. She had been sitting in her "room" bawling her eyes out, and holding a locket...a picture of a woman, it seemed, had been the cause of her sadness. Suddenly she had been sitting in church (Ugh, what a _horrible_ place! Gabbi thought) and been weeping uncontrollably, staring at that picture in the locket again. In the background, there was a large black coffin and some person was reading a sappy poem.

As Gabbi thought about the dream and this unknown woman, a sense of knowing dawned on her and the word "mother" came to mind. A picture, as well, materialized in front of her eyes - she had long, dark black hair and wide eyes. She also had a beauty mark on her upper lip. Gabbi shuddered uncontrollably and shut her eyes. This woman, whoever she was, was a carbon copy of what Gabbi assumed she would look like later in life. This simply could not be.

"Uh...Gabbi?"

Gabbi's eyes snapped open, and Paula was amazed to see that they were such a light purple that they were almost white. It took Paula a second to regain her composure, after which she informed Gabbi that breakfast was over. As they left the hall for their very first classes, Paula glanced nervously back at Gabbi. Her eyes were still that eerie shade of light purple, but deep plum streaks were starting to appear. Thoroughly freaked out, Paula turned to Kassandra and started a conversation to try and forget Gabbi's bizarre eyes.

Okay yeah, so that was short, but I think I have an idea of where this story's going now...I know I said I was a bit scared of reviews, but please do, cuz it'll surely make my day :) Even if you didn't like it, at least I know you've read it... 


	4. Shades of Purple

Shades of Purple

Hola! I've finally gotten over my writer's block (I think) and I'm making myself write this because I just cannot stand it anymore. So read...review...pweeze? I'd be really happy if you would... :) So yeah...I hope it's good! 

*sparkliez*

Chapter 4   


Shades of Purple

"Blah blah blah blah...whoop de doooo..." Gabbi was bored to no end in her first Transfiguration class. Turning needles into matches - big deal! Gabbi already had a pile of nine needles and was working on her tenth. 

_ If father could see the rubbish we were doing right now,_ Gabbi thought, inserting one particularly pointy needle into the tip of her finger. _I bet I can_ _Transfigure objects at a fifth year level! This is so stupid..._

Dissatisfied with the results of the finger-pricking experiment, Gabbi picked up a different needle and jammed it a bit harder into her index finger. She drew in her breath sharply as a droplet of crimson blood appeared where the needle had punctured her skin. Gabbi particularly liked blood. Not that she was a _vampire_, or anything - though she could be mistaken for one - it just interested her greatly. Blood...deep...dark...a sign of death...mesmerizing, yet frightening... 

"Gabrielle!" 

Gabbi turned from her blood-stained finger to Kassandra, who was staring at Gabbi in horror. "Are - are you okay? What did you do?" 

Shrugging, Gabbi replied, "Nothing," and turned back to look at her finger, on which the blood, that had been a droplet before, was now slowly sliding down her finger in the fashion of a tear escaping down someone's cheek. Shocked, Kassandra turned back to her needle, which was still made of wood, but had a sharp tip. 

Gabbi sighed and pressed the tip of her finger into the bottom left-hand corner of the desk, staining the wood a dark red. She didn't think anyone would notice, and if they did, well, who cared? Gathering up her ten perfect needles and shoving them into a small pocket in her bookbag, Gabbi packed her books away and sat watching Kassandra lighting her wooden needle on fire. 

A bell sounded a few moments later, and Gabbi stood up abruptly, waiting for Paula and Kassandra to pack up their stuff. They hoisted their bags over their shoulders and walked down toward the dungeons to put away their things before dinner. 

_ Finally! _Gabbi thought, rolling her eyes. She couldn't wait to get to dinner to get away from Kassandra and Paula. She had older, more important friends to chat with. Draco, in particular. 

--

Gen hopped down the stairs two at a time, with Taylor close behind. She really wanted to get to dinner; she was starving! 

"Gen! Gen, wait _up_!" Taylor panted, jumping four stairs and landing at the bottom right before Genieveve. 

"Aw, no fair, you cheat!" Gen whined, sticking out her bottom lip. 

"How so?" Taylor asked, grinning, as they entered the Great Hall. 

"You're taller than I am!" 

Taylor just shrugged and took a seat in the middle of the Gryffindor table, then turned her head upward to the sky - or, rather, the ceiling. It was a beautiful starry night, and the sky was completely devoid of clouds. 

"Mmmm.." Taylor murmured, a pained look suddenly shadowing her normally cheerful face. She shut her eyes and muttered something. 

"Come again?" Gen giggled. She was in a particularly hyper mood. 

"Oh, um...nothing, nothing," Taylor muttered, her brow furrowed. 

Gen raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. 

Suddenly, food appeared on the table and Gen let out a strangled cry and leapt for the potatoes. Taylor grinned and acted as though nothing had happened. 

A while later, Genieveve and Taylor emerged from the Great Hall, stuffed with good food and feeling very hyper indeed. They had left dinner early, owing to the unknown objects that kept sailing into their soup from Fred and George's end of the table. 

"Let's go back to the common room, we have homework to do," said Taylor, sighing sadly. 

"Awww...no, come on Tay! Let's go explore the castle, we've hardly been here a whole day! Besides," Gen added, seeing Taylor's dismayed face, "we need to find out how to get to tomorrow's classes!" 

Taylor sighed again. "Oh...all right, let's go, then." 

Genieveve skipped up the stairs and turned right, running down a dark corridor that was usually deserted. Taylor ran behind her, her feet pounding loudly on the stone floor. 

"Gen! _Gen!_ Slow DOWN!" Taylor squealed, and Gen came to a halt in front of an unused classroom. Taylor came skidding along behind her, grabbing Gen's shoulders to stop herself. Gen didn't giggle, however, or even make any noise at all. She was staring intently into the room in front of them, her eyes wide. Taylor saw the expression on her face and turned around to look into the room. 

From the inside there was a faint, purplish light filtering through the doorway. It was so faint, though, that you wouldn't notice it just passing by the door, or from farther down in the corridor. Taylor frowned and peered closer. 

"Let's go see," Gen whispered, tugging at Taylor's sleeve. She sounded confident, but Taylor noticed her hands were shaking violently. 

"I - I don't know..." Taylor whispered back. She didn't have a good feeling about this... 

"Oh, come on!" Gen pulled her arm harder until they were right in the doorway. They looked around cautiously, then Taylor kicked the door open the rest of the way with her foot. 

Both girls gasped loudly. Sitting on a desk in the back of the forgotten classroom was a - _crystal ball?_ Sighing with relief, Gen trooped into the room with the air of one on a mission to destroy. Taylor followed more timidly. 

Tugging on her blonde locks, Taylor peered over Genieveve's shoulder nervously. "W-what do you think it - it does?" she whispered quietly. 

"Well...I dunno, it doesn't look like a normal crystal ball, though, does it?" Gen answered, staring at it. 

True, it didn't look like a normal crystal ball, and it wasn't. This one was set on what looked to be a real gold base which was decorated with elaborate etchings. It was slightly smaller than your standard crystal ball, and it didn't have white mist swirling around inside it like most did. Inside the ball was an almost blindingly bright lavender light that shot in all directions. This was what had attracted their attention. 

Gen moved forward and stared straight into the purple depths of the ball, not blinking. Taylor chewed her nails nervously, fighing the impulse to run. A moment later, Gen jumped back, terror stricken. 

"I - it - no...it can't...!" she whimpered, pointing a trembling finger at the crystal ball. 

"What?" Taylor asked, hurrying over to her. _"What?" _

"It - it..." Gen stuttered incoherently, looking at the ball in horror. 

Taylor stalked forward and peered at the base of the ball. Carved in miniscule writing were the words, _"Pateo nunc mysteria intus voster olim._" Frowning, she turned back to Gen, careful to avoid looking into the ball. 

"Do you know what that means?" she asked, looking into Gen's eyes. As she did so, she felt her stomach contract in horror. Her eyes. Her _eyes!_

Gen's eyes were spookily light. There seemed to be no iris whatsoever, just a dark, black pupil. Looking closely, Taylor saw that Gen's iris was intact - it was just so light of a purple you could barely see it. Taylor gaped. Gen, who was breathing very fast and shaking so hard she was in danger of falling over, didn't seem to notice. 

Pulling herself together, Taylor grabbed one of Genieveve's clammy hands and pulled her hard toward the door, saying, "We need to get out of here." Out in the corridor, Taylor slammed the door of the classroom and gripped Gen's arm tightly. The eerie purple light was still visible through the crack under the door. 

"What happened?" she questioned sternly, avoiding Gen's freaky eyes. 

"I...um...it...I can't tell you!" Gen stuttered, bursting into tears. 

"Why? What did you see?" Taylor wrung her hands and paced back and forth. Without waiting for an answer she muttered, "It said something...in Latin...on the base...did you see?" 

Genieveve shook her head slowly, wiping the salty tears from her cheeks. 

"Come on...I don't want to stay here any longer...that thing gives me the creeps," Taylor pulled Gen back up the corridor, heading in the direction of the Gryffindor common room. 

-- 

Gabbi sat in a velvety green armchair in the Slytherin common room, observing the fire. She seemed to be in some sort of trance; her pupils were dilated and she was not blinking. Everyone was acting as though she was sick with something contagious, and if they came any closer they'd be infected too. Gabbi didn't care. 

What did it _mean?_

In the middle of dinner - and an extremely pleasant conversation with Draco Malfoy - something had happened. 

She had been explaining to him, in a bored sort of drawl, how her first day at school had been. 

"...And Transfiguration...that was the most boring class of all. I Transfigured about ten matches into needles, no big deal, really. Father says I have great powers, he's already taught me lots of Dark magic and..." she had broken off, staring at Draco, but not really _seeing_ him, or his bemused expression. 

It was as though someone was showing her a television (her father had told her something about it; a Muggle contraption) and she was viewing an event. But like her dreams, it was again through the eyes of this mysterious girl, who she had yet to discover the identity of. This "viewing" that was taking place in front of her eyes also didn't seem to have any sound. She had the strange feeling that the girl that she was seeing things through was talking, but couldn't hear her voice, or the replies of her friend. This friend, Gabbi realized, was the girl shehad met on the Hogwarts Express. Her name was...Taylor? 

She was running down a corridor Gabbi didn't recognize and then came to an abrupt stop, Taylor halting behind her seconds later. Gabbi realized the reason they had stopped was because they had noticed a faint purple glow coming from underneath the door of a classroom. They walked in...and saw a crystal ball. 

But Gabbi knew that it was much, much more than just a crystal ball. She knew this even before Taylor or the unknown girl did. Realizing what the object was, she gasped aloud at the dinner table, attracting a lot of attention. People up and down the Slytherin table turned to stare at her. Draco, who she was still staring at, gaped as her eyes turned from deep purple, to a lighter, royal purple, to lavender, then to a purple that was so light, he thought, there wasn't a recognizable name for it. 

Then, as suddenly as the trance had come, it left. Gabbi blinked, her eyes starting to return to a their normal state. She looked around, to see people in every direction gazing at her in horror. 

"Wh-what's going on?" She looked from Draco, to his friends Crabbe and Goyle, who were wearing identical expressions of stupid bewilderment. 

"You...kinda went into a trance thing," said Draco, looking confused. "Are you...all right?" 

Gabbi's cheeks turned a bit pink with embarrassment (it wasn't an emotion she usually allowed herself to feel) before she suddenly snapped, "Yeah. I'm _fine._ Just - just leave me _alone."_ And with that she spun around, her dark hair flying wildly as she ran through the Great Hall, out the double doors, and disappeared. 

The warmth of the fire certainly did not spread to Gabbi. She looked around the room with an icy glare that the likes of Draco Malfoy could not match. Why was all this happening to her? Her first day at Hogwarts, and she had to go off into some weird trance thing, making her an outcast. _No._ Gabrielle Ervin was not, and would not be an outcast. It would make the Plan much more difficult that way. 

And so another chapter ends, and I feel much relieved. Rather confusing ending, though, wasn't it? Or do I just confuse myself...? Review, if you please :)   



	5. And Back It Comes

Early Mornings

Aren't I in a nice little writing mood! Second chapter of the day, go me :) I really have no idea what I'm going to write...well, now that I say that, I have somewhat of an idea...gah I'm blabbering, here goes... 

*sparkliez* 

Chapter 5   


Early Mornings

By the end of the week, Genieveve found she had never wished more for the weekend. This was the worst week that she could ever remember having in her entire life except for that week a year ago... 

She tried to clear her mind of these dark thoughts by shaking her head back and forth as hard as she could, but found this did nothing except make her hair frizz up from static electricity and stand on end. Certainly not attractive, she thought, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. 

"I'll say so!" barked the mirror, reading Gen's thoughts. 

This caused her to jump about three feet in the air, after which she started the head-shaking ritual again, stomping from the dormitory in search of someone to talk to at this hour of the morning. It was, in fact, a Saturday and she was up at an alarming hour. 

_Why,_ she thought groggily, and stopped shaking her head as she came to the top of the stairs for fear of falling down them, _in the hell am I up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning?! _

"Jeez, I dunno," she answered herself aloud, "just felt like going for a stroll, didn't we?" 

"It appears so," answered a sleepy voice, tinted with amusement. 

This woke Gen up considerably better than any coffee could, no matter how many shots of espresso. (She quite enjoyed coffee, too). Jumping as she had upstairs when the mirror spoke to her, her eyes searched the dim common room, but to no avail. The speaker seemed to have a very good hiding spot. Or Gen just needed glasses. 

From over the back of a chair in front of the quickly-dying fire, a face with bright green eyes and glasses was watching her intently.The mouth of the face seemed to be trying to fight back the urge to laugh. 

"Oh, uh...Harry, hi," Gen said, turning a lovely shade of magenta. "What're you doing here?" 

"Hi there, Genni," he said, grinning. He was the only one who called her Genni, which, she thought, was...odd? Unique? Special? "I just had some bad dreams, that's all." 

"Ah," she said, nodding. "Yeah...bad dreams suck." What? Bad dreams _suck? _Good one. 

Harry looked as though he wanted to say this was obvious. But instead, he just smiled and said, "Well, don't just stand there...come sit, it's rather cold." 

She tried to force herself not to blush, and it worked, for a second. But as soon as she sat down, the blush she had been holding back came in full force. It was rather like trying to hold back a sneeze. Just blushing in such a way made her blush even more. God, how terrible. 

"So," he said, apparently trying to start a conversation, "you have bad dreams too?" 

"Yeah..." Genieveve looked down at her hands. She didn't really want to talk about them, especially not with Harry Potter. 

He nodded. He could read the look on her face, because he had worn it many times before when talking to his friends. She didn't want to talk about her dreams; that was okay. 

Just then, Taylor interrupted the nervous pause by tumbling down the stairs and landing in a pink-pajamaed-blonde-haired heap at the bottom. Rolling over, she looked up at Harry and Genieveve, both wearing matching expressions of alarm and bewilderment.

"Gen! You need to come - I - uh - it's um...just - come on!" she unstuck a blonde tendril of hair from her eyelashes and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. 

"Erm...okay..." Gen slowly got to her feet, thoroughly wishing Taylor hadn't interrupted and walked toward the staircase. Taylor proceeded to grab the sleeve of her pajamas and drag her up the stairs. 

"What is it?" she gasped as they arrived back in the dormitory. _"Oh..."_

--

_They ran. And they ran. What they were running from, she didn't know. She just knew they were running, and if they stopped, something terrible, something horrible was going to happen. And she didn't think about it. Couldn't think about it. She just ran. _

_Images of the scenery flicked by quickly; tall trees, dirt, a clear, cloudless sky, a full moon. They seemed to be in a forest. Who "they" was, she didn't even know, but she perceived that it was not just her, but another. And they were running, and that was all that mattered. _

_Suddenly, a root seemed to spring up from the ground, and her foot got wedged in it. A crack sounded through the silence and stillness, thesound of breaking bone, along with her cry of pain. She crawled on her hands and knees, knowing it was too late. The other person was still  
running, leaving her here, to her doom and, presumably, her death. A loud, bloodcurdling scream echoed through the forest, and she realized with a jolt that the sound was coming from her._

_With nothing left to do, she lay down and waited for death to come, and come soon it would. _

Gabbi almost screamed aloud as she bolted upright in bed. Clasping her hands over her mouth, she looked quickly around to see if anyone had noticed her arrival into a state of consciousness. She relaxed a bit, seeing that everyone else in the dormitory was currently in their own state of unconsciousness, and were unable to notice her exit from it. Ripping off the venemous green sheets she was entangled in, she righted her pajama bottoms and set off downstairs to the common room.   
  
Upon arrival, she positioned herself as comfortably as possible in a chair in front of the fire. Her hands were shaking, and she had broken out in a cold sweat. She hastily wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead with the back of her trembling hand and curled her knees up to her chest. Clasping her still-shaking hands around her legs she rocked back and forth, breathing deeply. It was hard to do when you were nearly hyperventilating. 

A voice erupted inside her head and she winced, digging her fingernails deep into the skin of her palms. 

_"You are brave,"_it hissed, "_and immensely powerful. You have more power than your father, or your mother. More power than any of my best trained servants and followershave or could ever even hope to have. And you are not even a teenager yet. You will become my assistant,  
my most trusted and loyal servant. I know you will be faithful. It runs in your blood, faith.Your parents are some of the most faithful servants I have. But you will exceed them greatly. We will go far together, you and I." _

"We will," she murmured, an evil grin spreading across her face. "Yes, we most certainly will." 

--

  
Though the red velvet drapes were drawn around her bed, Genevieve could still see the all-too-familiar lavender glow shining through. 

"What's it _doing_ here?" she groaned quietly, so as not to wake the others. 

"I...I don't know," Taylor murmured, looking fearful. "It was just...here when I woke up. Apparently...it came after you left? I have no clue." She shrugged, and ripped open the drapes to reveal the crystal-ball-that-really-wasn't sitting on Genevieve's bed. 

"Hey!" she hissed, leaping over her trunk and shutting the curtains. "It'll wake them up! The light's so bright," she added, seeing a puzzled look from Taylor that seemed to say, "It's not making any noise..." 

"We need to figure out what that Latin on the base says," Taylor said, groaning. "I'm no Latin buff and neither are you...I have a feeling we're going to be spending a lot of time in the library trying to figure that out." 

Gen, who was still mocking being hurt by the "Latin buff" comment, made a noise of disapproval. "Agh, Tay..." 

"We need to figure out what it says, since it upset you so much," Taylor said seriously, crossing her arms. "Unless, of course, you want to tell me..." 

A shadow flitted across Gen's face and she cried, "No!" 

Taylor, afraid she might go into hysterics and wake everyone up, grabbed her arm and whispered, "Sssshhh! Come on, let's get dressed and go to the library." 

Gen's shoulders slumped and she nodded her approval. She, in all honestly, didn't really _want_ to know what it meant. What she had seen had been terrible...the inscription they were trying to decode couldn't be much better. 

Before leaving, they threw some black robes over the crystal ball and hid it in Taylor's trunk, which was made of a magical metal so that only she could open it. Genevieve's, of course, was made of normal wood. 

They tiptoed quietly down the corridors to the library, not sure if they were allowed to be up at this hour or not. Inside the library,Gen went toward the crystal ball section, Taylor to the section concerning spells and curses in a variety of languages. Each arrived, a few minutes later, carrying a stack of books that towered above their heads. 

"Well?" Genevieve gasped, setting her books on the table with a large thunk. 

"I found some interesting stuff on how to say lots of different stuff in, uh...French, Spanish, Portugese, German, Swedish, Chin-" 

"Okay, okay," Gen said, holding up a tiny hand, "you can spare me the list of all the world's languages. Anything Latin? Because I thought that was the original purpose I was dragged down here in the wee hours of the morning."

"Well, only three," sighed Taylor, pulling up a huge dusty volume, "and the others are really just about charmed magical objects." 

"Ah," said Gen simply, grabbing a book entitled _Crystal Balls: A Divinator's Guide._

_"Crystal balls are highly powerful, magical objects. Divinators use them as one of their many guides to predict the future and such. Only a true Seer, however, will be able to conjure images within the depths of a crystal ball. While it may seem easy, crystal gazing requires a great deal of magical prowess, concentration, and the ability to See beyond..." _

Yawning, Genevieve turned the page, receiving a noseful of dust. She sneezed, causing more dust to fly into the air. _Oh dear,_ she thought, _this is going to be a long day._

_--_

About an hour later, Gen was tired of reading about the many different types of crystals balls and how the swirling mist inside each kind varied to the teensiest degree. She was starting to wonder why anyone would actually _care_, when -

"Oh my God," came a muffled voice from behind a stack of books. "Gen, you have _got_ to look at this." 

Were you aware that eating chocolate releases these little happy endorphin thingies in your brain? Chocolate has proved to be a good thing for me to eat when writing, apparently. Do you think so? 


End file.
